Life Hunter

The vampire saw his energy being drained by just doing that. He was sure that he had changed his body in time but that dark red sword that went through his ethereal body actually affected him on a physical level.

"It"s not good…" Harion muttered and controlled the Qi in his body. His muscles contracted and his veins bulged. Dracula drew a silver one-handed sword and a b.l.o.o.d.y aura manifested around him.

Arima deployed his wings and even more lightning fell on the battlefield. His aura was enough to deal with the mob around Harion and Dracula. He stepped on thin air and transferred just behind the two Pillars.

This time, they were able to react and turned around to meet his blow. Harion moved his body accurately and struck Karma"s flat side to deviate it. But that action alone was enough to injure and knock him back.

Dracula chose that timing to push. His blood aura coated his sword as he swung it. Arima frowned as he felt a strange feeling coming from that sword. He felt like that sword would hit him no matter what.

Arima conjured Aeterna and kicked Harion away. He called Superore and pointed it at the vampire before pressing the trigger.

Dracula grunted and displaced his b.l.o.o.d.y energy from his sword to his body. He extended his hand and the projection of a red crest protected him from the Superore"s bullets like a shield. But it didn"t last long as Arima moved inside Superore"s beam and broke that shield with a single slash.

At the same time, Harion had recovered and moved his arms in a particular pattern before taking a stance. His eyes locked on Arima and he put all of his weight on his pivot. He kicked the ground and created an enormous crater.

He reached Arima in no time and moved his Qi accordingly "[Burned flesh, sacrificed blood, discarded bones]" He chanted and his entire arm started fuming and his sleeve was torn apart "[Three-way impact]"

"[Terminus Confractus]" Arima chanted in return and stopped Harion"s fist with his own. Harion"s expression contorted as he felt the large rebound. Arima"s physical strength was unbelievable and that scaled arm hurt him greatly.

Their clash split the earth apart and destroyed a large part of Melumnia. Turning the city into vestiges. Dracula"s eyes glowed and he waved his hand toward Arima. The ghouls across the battlefield suddenly became mad and mindlessly jumped on Arima.

"You"re not the only one who can make people explode" Dracula grumbled and the ghouls" bodies swelled at some places before bursting. The ghouls died one after another and each time released a strong blood aura.

Arima frowned as he noticed his mana being disrupted by that aura. Harion snickered and took the occasion. He grabbed Arima"s wrist with his other hand and his leg began fuming too. He locked Arima"s arm tightly then spun to kick him.

Arima was struck directly in the abdomen and grunted. But Harion"s victory only lasted a for a few seconds. Arima had not even taken a single step back after being hit.

"Alright, it"s over" He muttered and raised his head. He temporarily dropped Karma and approached Harion. He grabbed him by his nape and pulled him before kneeing him. His next moves were steady and mystifying. He moved his hand slowly and struck Harion"s liver with his palm, then aimed for the ribs, the solar plexus, and finally the heart.

Harion paled and coughed blood. He gritted his teeth and fell on the ground, unable to recover "[Resurrection]" Arima heard Dracula chanting his Soul Resonance just after.

Arima felt darkness surrounding him. He extended his hand and called Karma just before a giant coffin appeared out of nowhere and confined him. Dracula sighed and panted a little. His Manifestation was an instant-cast type. He could summon a coffin which would imprison and suck the blood out the victim while impaling him with spikes.

He didn"t think that it would kill Arima, but at least could gain him some time to pick up Harion and wait for the stronger Pillars to arrive. In the first place, he and Harion were the ones who went too fast and began invading without waiting for them. They a.s.sumed it would be easy to get rid of Arima if he was alone. An outrageous mistake.

But before he could even get away, Dracula heard a cracking sound and watched as his coffin was being fissured "…I can"t be"

Soon enough, the coffin ruptured and Arima came out of it. He flapped his wings and arrived in front of Dracula. The vampire grimaced when he saw him. There were a few holes on Arima"s clothes and some parts of his body had indeed been deprived of blood. But what scared Dracula was how Arima was standing in front of him; half-human and half-skeleton. He could also see with the naked eye that a new flesh was gradually covering back the bones which had been exposed.

"I"m definitely not the best opponent for you when it comes to organic weaknesses" Arima spoke and the vampire groaned. He silently commanded and a few thousand ghouls arrived again. But they were all slain by Arima"s blade before they could even get near.

"You lost" Arima uttered and grabbed Dracula"s neck. He lifted him up and didn"t even bother to use the Fifth Black Art. He immediately crushed his spine and throat while adding a large amount of aura to it. Dracula went limp and died just like that.

Arima then teleported beside the fallen Harion and grabbed him too "Haha… are you going to kill me now?" Harion laughed at this situation and Arima stared at him with his cold eyes. He didn"t even say anything as he killed him in the exact same way as Dracula.

Arima threw Harion"s body away and snapped his fingers. The two Pillars" corpses were instantly cremated by a blue fire "{…They were reckless by coming alone}" Karma commented and Arima nodded.

He directed his eyes at the horizon and the colossal army. He sighed "Guess I"ll have to take care of them too" He complained and started building a magic formation. As he was about to cast his Art, Arima froze and urgently stopped his magic before turning around.

Just behind him, there was one man quietly standing on thin air. He was an average looking man, he had no commendable features whatsoever but one thing that struck Arima was the man"s black eyes and the vermillion pentagram that was glowing on his irises.

"…The Second Pillar, Ambor… am I right?" Arima asked carefully.

The man squinted his eyes and observed Arima, then the battled field, and finally, the places where Harion and Dracula had died "Are you the one who killed them?"

Arima furrowed "(…It"s bad. Really bad)" If he ever fights Ambor like this, there"s no way to tell if he will win or not. Ambor was like a perfect counter against Arima in a sense. Arima"s main strength comes from his ridiculous magic.

But if he stumbles against someone who can copy them and even a.n.a.lyze and alter them, he would be in a bad situation. And that"s exactly what was happening at the moment "(I also was about to use "Estuans Sors"… I don"t know if he had the time to scan it or not…)"

"…I am" Arima ultimately replied to the question and Ambor"s eyes widened.

"I see" He responded very shortly too and the two silently stared at each other. After a moment, when the night fell on Melumnia, Ambor"s body was abruptly ignited in a dazzling blue fire.

"{He saw through it!}" Night exclaimed.

"s.h.i.t!" Arima cursed and jumped back.

"[Mors aeterna] (Death is eternal)"

"[Vita est unum diem durantia] (Life is ephemeral)" At the same time, Ambor started chanting the exact same incantation Arima had created for the First Blue Art.

Arima flapped his wings and flew away "(Dammit! He even got the chant without me saying it… I can"t use another Art to block it since he would copy it. I also can"t use "Estuans Sors" myself since he will finish it before I can)" He gritted his teeth "(Why is it him who had to come now? And at that particular time…)"

"{So, what do we do? Honestly, I don"t think we can stop one of your First Arts without using another}" Night inquired and Arima clicked his tongue.

"We still have "Ragnarök", which is already cast, so he can"t copy it. But the chemistry isn"t good. The Red Arts can"t win against the Blue Arts. They are made to alter the "World" but they can"t hope to actually control the Blue Arts which are way stronger in magnitude. I could use the First Black Art but it"s still not the right time" Arima explained and heard Ambor"s last line of chant.

"[First Blue Art, Estuans Sors]" The sky was filled with an azure fire. Ambor looked up with a bright expression.

"Incredible… I can"t believe a magic like this exists. I also can see in its formation that it"s connected to the theory of an entire set…" He muttered and fixed his glimmering eyes on Arima "It"s a shame I can"t figure out the other Arts from this one only. I need you to show them to me"

Arima almost choked himself when he heard that "As if! Who the h.e.l.l would be dumb enough to make his enemy more powerful?" He retorted and stopped flying. He had taken his distance only because he wanted to gain some time to think. It was impossible to escape the eternal flames of "Estuan Sors" after all.

Arima glowered and urged his First Red Art to activate. Although he had said that it couldn"t help him much, he still used it.

"Mm?" Ambor"s eyes widened and looked at the ground "This is…" The pentagram on his irises spun and glowed "…You are controlling this planet"s five elements as if they were your own members" He was astounded once again.

Arima snorted and the elements went wild. The oxygen disappeared and a huge force tried to push the azure flames back "Useless" Ambor stated "I already know that your magic can"t win against this fire"

Arima groaned "Shut up. You don"t know anything about my Arts"

Ambor closed his mouth then looked up at the sky again "Hyacinthum Ignis" He spoke and Arima"s expression twitched "Adolebitque Ea (Burn them)"

The blue flames in the sky gathered to form the shape of a large skull "Are you kidding me?! That guy is using the hidden aspect already!" Arima couldn"t believe it. He bit his lip and conjured another formation. Ambor"s eyes instantly focused on it and the whole thing was immediately probed and memorized.

"No choice" Arima mumbled and the familiar book appeared in his hand "[Third Destruction Art, Pars Impios]" He chanted and the blue fire finished its condensation too. The hidden aspect was triggered and at least a quarter of Melumnia became bathed in flames while the Lawless Tome shined and flipped his pages crazily as it was shrouded by the sea of fire.